St. Joseph Man Sentenced to 50 Years in Federal Fentanyl and Money Laundering Case

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — A St. Joseph man has been sentenced to 50 years in federal prison without parole for his role in a fentanyl trafficking and money laundering conspiracy.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri announced Wednesday that Montrez Dixon, 33, received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark.

Dixon was convicted by a federal jury in September 2025 of conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing fentanyl and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.

Federal prosecutors said the investigation included a July 2020 package shipped from Arizona to Kansas City that contained 4,715 fentanyl pills. Investigators determined Dixon distributed that shipment and other packages containing thousands of fentanyl pills into the Western District of Missouri.

The case continued into November 2022, when agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Internal Revenue Service searched a residence connected to Dixon in Los Angeles. Authorities reported recovering more than 7,500 additional fentanyl pills and a firearm.

Prosecutors said Dixon later fled to Fresno, California, where he was ultimately arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service.

A jury returned guilty verdicts against Dixon on Sept. 18, 2025, following a federal trial in Kansas City. Three co-defendants in the case had previously entered guilty pleas.

The investigation involved numerous federal and local agencies, including the FBI, DEA, ATF, IRS Criminal Investigation, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office, Buchanan County Drug Strike Force and St. Joseph Police Department.

Dixon’s 50-year federal sentence does not include the possibility of parole.

Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri. https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/st-joseph-man-sentenced-50-years-imprisonment-drug-money-laundering-conspiracy